September 8, 2021

Jenna Rush

Senior Education Researcher, SRI Education

Jenna Rush conducts mixed methods research and provides technical assistance across several content areas, including teacher preparation and professional development, school and district reform and student well-being. Rush manages multiple projects, creating systems to ensure high-quality, timely and relevant services that meet client and stakeholder needs. She also leads survey development and administration, develops interview protocols, collects and analyzes qualitative data and creates written reports for clients.

Rush supports clients and stakeholders in centering equity in their work. Her equity-centered work includes creating a toolkit to support methodological approaches to equitable quantitative research, and developing and supporting a national network of National Science Foundation grantees and other individuals and programs seeking to broaden participation in STEM pathways and careers. In addition, Rush helps K–12 state and local education agencies and community college systems support students and educators experiencing trauma by designing partnership activities, including training and coaching sessions, and developing resources aligned to stakeholder and partner needs.

Rush integrates quantitative and qualitative data to provide clients with actionable, formative feedback for continuous improvement. For example, she supports an evaluation of a Barr Foundation initiative to create innovative high school models designed to meet the needs of students who are off track to graduate, and ultimately to assess whether these innovative models are helping students graduate with the competencies needed for a changing workforce. Rush’s work also focuses on rigorous mixed methods program evaluations, including multiple randomized controlled trials to assess the impact of instructional coaching on teacher outcomes as well as on student achievement.

Before joining SRI, Rush was a data analyst at both the Tennessee Department of Education and Communities in Schools of Tennessee. She was also a research assistant for the National Center on Scaling Up Effective Schools. Rush earned her MPP in education policy from Vanderbilt University.